DONINGTON Park is used to the roar of high performance racing machines or the blast of heavy metal music, but Donington Live brought sounds of a totally different nature to the venue.

From war classics to West End musicals, Donington Live brought a touch of class to Castle Donington.

The event was conceived when Darley Live, an annual cultural event, was unable to continue.

The opportunity was seized by the Donington Park management team with the support of Derby Live and the classical concert was arranged for the new venue.

Songs of Praise presenter Aled Jones was the host for the evening and is forever remembered for his song Walking in the Air from the animated film The Snowman.

He has since hosted a number of TV shows and sold around 10m records.

Derby based Sinfonia Viva Orchestra opened the concert with a couple of rousing pieces including Eric Coates war time classic known to most as Music While You Work.

They performed brilliantly throughout the evening delivering faultless classics from Elgar to Souza, with one of Dvorak’s Slavonic dances being particularly popular with the audience.

The foot-tapping opening was followed by mezzo soprano, Laura Wright, one of the biggest selling classical artists of the decade who ended two operatic pieces with 22 press-ups in support of Combat Stress, in her performance dress.

The much anticipated, Britain’s Got Talent 2014 winners, Collabro followed with I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables followed by the beautiful Anthem.

The Military Wives Choir gave a moving performance of their No.1 debut single Wherever You Are followed by We Are Stronger.

After the interval Laura Wright returned to stage with the nostalgic Vera Lynn, wartime classic White Cliffs of Dover followed by the anthem I Vow To Thee My Country.

As darkness fell Collabro returned to the stage with the very appropriate Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera and their version of Stars from Les Miserables.

The song impressed the judges at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions and the winning final.

For many this was the vocal highlight of the evening.

Aled Jones even joined in the fun with a powerful You Raise Me Up and after a little persuasion, he bellowed out a few lines from the Christmas hit that made him famous.

The finale of the event was the rousing Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture supported by a spectacular firework display and encored by Collabro and Laura Wright returning to the stage for the Prom classic Land of Hope and Glory. A very patriotic and very British end to a wonderful evening.